BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Saint Joseph's men's tennis team continued play at the ITA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship on Friday, as main draw action got underway on both the singles and doubles sides.
In morning doubles play, seniors Renier Moolman and Andres Urrea advanced to the Round of 32 with a pair of victories. After an 8-2 win over Fernando Sala and Jabari Stafford of George Washington, the pair reached the third round with an 8-4 win over Temple's Artem Kapshuk and Nicolas Paulus.
Junior Kyle Chalmers and sophomore Peter Dewitt reached the Round of 32 as well, taking an 8-2 result over Duquesne's Dane Bendel and Andrew Ong after a first-round bye.
Senior Kevin Gates and junior Tristan Boustany received a bye to the Round of 64 as well before falling to second-seeded Andreas Bjerrehus and Joao Monteiro of Virgina Tech, 8-1. Freshmen Andre Fick and Dan Tan also fell in the Round of 64 after a bye, going down to the fourth seed, George Washington's Julius Tverijonas and Danil Zelenkov, by an 8-1 score. Also receiving a bye to the second round were senior Sam Cadwell and sophomore Grant Boyle; the pair ultimately fell, 8-1, to Joe Hill and James Lang, a seeded duo from George Mason.
Moolman was a winner in singles play as well, gutting out a 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-6 (3) win over Will Sharton of Georgetown to advance to the Round of 64.
Chalmers was defeated in the opening round on Friday, falling to Virginia Tech's Freddy Mesmer, 6-3, 6-4. Urrea went down to Christian Lutschaunig of Penn State, 7-6 (4), 6-3, and Fick suffered a 7-6 (1), 6-4 setback to Jose Manzano of Radford. Boustany also suffered a first round defeat, falling to VCU's Louis Ishizaka, 6-3, 6-2.
Play continues on Saturday; the doubles draw will play down to the final 16, while the singles draw will complete the Round of 64.